Steel Butterfly Wings
by ShalaDakiri
Summary: Some people might say normal is over rated. Those people had never been trained to rekill the dead.


Disclaimer: I don't own or make any money from this project.

BtVS was created by Joss Whedon.

I don't own the crossover-verse, and an appropriate disclaimer will be added once revealed. Since there is no category for surprise crossovers, I'm using Misc. Anime instead.

A/N: This story is the result of too much time watching anime (is that possible?), and a sudden realization of the similarities between Buffy-verse vampires and the monsters from the crossover series.

Some dialogue lines, I've cribbed from the show, but only if I liked them too much to drop.

And I'd like to thank BlackHat for running a beta eye over this.

Chapter 1

Buffy warily eyed her new school. The place looked normal enough. Almost too normal. She felt a stab of longing to be normal, too, before ruthlessly suppressing it. The past year had destroyed that life. She still could pretend, but that was mostly for her mother's sake. Buffy had lost 'normal' when Merrick threw that dagger at her. She actually realized it when he died. She finally gave up during the training from hell while her parents thought she was stuck in that hospital.

Shaking her head, Buffy made her way into the building. None of that mattered at the moment except the pretending to be normal part. All she had to do was get through her meeting with the principal without dropping the act.

On her way to the office, her sensitive hearing picked up more than a few comments from kids speculating about the new student. Fortunately, it sounded like no one had gotten her name just yet, or she was certain someone would have dug up the news articles from the Hemery fire.

The principal, on the other hand, had her file already open on his desk, although his comments made it clear he hadn't actually read it yet. Instead, he ripped the sheet up and blathered some New Age crap about fresh starts... until he actually looked at the torn paper.

And there it was.

"You burned down the gym!"

Buffy hated the accusations and wariness.

"I did." The lie tasted just as bitter as the first time she'd told it. It wasn't as if anyone believed her that she hadn't even been inside, much less near the electrical box where it started. Her classmates' parents had wanted blood and the school board caved, despite the investigation clearing her before charges were even considered. She fumbled the rest of her response, almost dropping the "V" word before switching to an asbestos excuse she hoped would convince him of the blonde, cheerleader stereotype.

She wasn't entirely sure she'd succeeded, but he cut her loose with only reminder to get her schedule from the secretary and books from the library.

Buffy's meeting with Principal Flutie hadn't taken as long as she'd feared, but it still cut into the time she had to navigate the unfamiliar halls and maybe find her locker. Worse, the mixed signals she'd been getting from her other senses seemed to finally coalesce into a pressure that was not quite a headache but still a distraction.

Enough of a distraction Buffy didn't notice a student turning into her path until her purse lay spilled on the ground. Buffy ignored the reflexive, rushed apology. Her mentor would have kicked her butt for losing focus like that. Shaking her head, Buffy knelt to shove everything back in, hoping nothing... embarrassing had already gotten kicked to who-knows-where. She did, at least, notice a boy coming over to help.

"Can I have you?"

Buffy froze until she saw the boy's cringing correction.

"Can I help you?"

Definitely not a jock, although she didn't know this school well enough to know if that was a good thing. She accepted the last few items from him as they stood.

"Thanks."

"I... don't know you do I?"

"I'm Buffy. I'm new."

As he awkwardly introduce himself, Buffy decided Xander reminded her of an overgrown puppy: excitable, eager, and only dangerous by accident. In other words, too innocent to drag into her world.

She ducked around him, hurrying to escape before he could latch onto her.

Her first class, to her relief, turned out to be just down the hall. Even better, there were no assigned seats and only a couple already-claimed desks. The class itself was the same kind of semi-boring lecture Buffy used to ignore. At least the girl next to her was willing to share her textbook. Her stylish clothes and immaculate makeup marked her as one of the popular girls. Familiar territory.

By the end of class, Buffy thought she might have... probably not a friend, but maybe a bit of normality. Even the stupid little pop-culture quiz after class made her feel a bit less like a freak. Then Cordelia verbally shredded one of the school geeks for being in the way at a drinking fountain. Buffy had done worse at Hemery, so it surprised her how uncomfortable she felt now.

She decided to blame the demon cat for pounding into her skull the value of intelligence- both the book-smart type and the know-your-enemy type.

The library... looked like a library. Shelves full of books, checkout counter, the ever-present card catalogue, and probably built before wheelchair access was a thing. No librarian, though she could see an office behind the desk.

There was something off about this place, though. Unfortunately, trying to sense anything just gave her TV snow; nothing but annoying fuzz.

"Hello?" She angled to get a better look into the office. "Is anyone here?"

"Hello."

Buffy spun around at the quiet male voice. "Anyone is here."

Did he just come out of a cage? Creepy. And his accented voice stayed quiet as he introduced himself and proceded to completely ignore her request for school books. Unfortunately, her mental alarm failed to go off until after he slammed an ancient book with its stylized cover ominously titled Vampyr on the counter.

The librarian seemed far too excited, like Christmas had come and he'd just gotten exactly what he wanted.

"That's not what I'm looking for." She had heard about the thing, though, and refused to let herself get dragged into another mess involving Watchers, especially since she didn't remember Merrick ever mentioning any books about that "idiotic brain bleach", as Yoyo liked to call it. As soon as he turned away with an apology, she bolted. She could get her books later, preferably with a couple other students around.

Buffy made it through her next couple classes without incident, although questions about catching up had gotten her a name she hoped would still be willing help after the confrontation at the drinking fountain earlier. A few more questions and Buffy knew to look for the girl outside during lunch.

She spotted the redhead-Willow-settling on a concrete bench. Taking a moment to mourn the hit her non-existent social status was about to take, she bounced over to plop herself next to the girl.

"Hi! Willow, right?"

Willow jumped, "What? Hi. Do you need me to move?"

Buffy blinked at the quick assumption. "Why don't we rewind a bit. Hi, I'm Buffy. I don't need you to move, but I do want to ask a favor, maybe hang out?"

Willow hunched slightly, clearly puzzled.

"Aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?"

"I can't do both?" Buffy asked, trying to defuse Willow's defensiveness.

"Not legally."

Buffy bit back a laugh, "Look, between the move and... some other stuff, I really need help catching up. Word is, you're the go-to girl for tutoring?"

Willow immediately brightened at that confession. "I can totally help! If you have sixth period free, maybe we can meet in the library-"

"Or not!" As soon as Buffy saw the disappointed surprise, she backpedaled, "I mean, maybe we could meet somewhere less creepy?"

"Oh! Yeah, a lot of kids think that, but I love it there. All the books, and the librarian brought a ton of new ones when he started last month-"

"Last month?" The sinking feeling she'd had when she saw the Vampyr book returned. She'd only gotten out of the hospital a couple weeks ago, when her mom brought proof of a school willing to take a (falsely) accused arsonist.

Willow nodded excitedly, "I heard he used to work at a British museum-or maybe the British Museum..."

Buffy tuned her out as the realization sank in. Yoyo was right. There was an organization involved, and they had abandoned her to that hospital until they thought they could control her.

She only noticed Willow winding down to ask if she was boring when a pair of boys joined them, gleefully announcing they were interrupting. As the red head introduced them, Buffy's smile turned brittle as soon as she recognized Xander as the puppy from earlier,. His friend, Jesse, seemed about the same.

"Oh, we go way back!" Xander announced. "Then we went though a period of separation where we didn't see each other, and now, here we are. Together again..."

As Xander trailed off, Jesse gave him an incredulous look, "Did you just turn into a bibbling idiot?"

Xander uncomfortably agreed, "I think I hear the village calling."

Buffy smile softened slightly. The boys were actually kind of funny.

Then Xander pulled out an item Buffy immediately recognized.

"And can I just compliment your impeccable taste in Pez?"

"You didn't eat it, did you?" Buffy grabbed the plastic toy and immediately tipped Miss Piggy's head back.

"Not with only one left." Xander muttered.

Jesse made a Home Alone face, "Dude, you actually made a Will save on candy?"

Buffy reluctantly chuckled at the boys' antics, even if they only reinforced the puppy impression. Then the more annoying puppy-ish traits came out.

"So, what do you do for fun, what do you like, what do you look for in a man, let's hear it?"

Buffy barely time to process Xander's rapid-fire questions before Jesse dropped a question-far less subtly than Cordelia's earlier probing.

"If you have any Believe-it-or-not stories you want us to publish?"

Wait, what?

Still, maybe she could play with them a bit. And that thought had absolutely nothing to do with her teacher's influence. Really. And it wasn't like anyone would actually believe her...

"You mean like killing hordes of undead?"

Jesse immediately brightened, "You play Resident Evil? Never would have believed it!"

Buffy smiled awkardly. She had at least seen ads for the game, so she knew it involved killing zombies, but nothing else.

"Wow, I didn't take you for the type to slum it-especially on the first day!"

Willow immediately twisted around, shaking her head at Cordelia, "Oh, she's not actually with us."

Buffy wasn't quite sure how to take the quick disowning, but did feel a measure of relief at the distraction. With any luck, they would forget about the game and she wouldn't have to prove her lack of knowingness.

"Whatever. Not to interrupt your social suicide, but I thought you should know gym's been cancelled due to the extreme dead guy in Aura's locker."

While the boys questioned the claim, Buffy flashed back to finding kids (friends) drained of blood and having to re-kill the vampires wearing their faces. She forced herself to remember that was in the past, shaking herself back to the present.

"How did he die?"

Cordelia gave her a disgusted look, "Morbid, much? I don't know, they already closed the locker room."

Buffy glanced around at the others. Willow, Xander, and Jesse looked almost as uncomfortable as Cordelia. Apparently she'd acted a bit too interested in the death. She quickly scooped up her things-

"I gotta go."

-and hurried inside. As much as she didn't want it, she had a job to do. To do that, she needed to know how the victim died.

Buffy waited for the halls to clear before approaching the locker room door. She frowned, wondering why no one stood guard until the police could be called. Still, no reason not to take advantage of the mistake, and the locked handle broke easily under her grip.

She easily spotted the body slumped in front of a still open locker. Ten seconds later, she confirmed the presence of two bloodless holes in his neck and an equal lack of blood in his mouth. Small consolation. She quickly checked the rest of the empty locker room and decided he'd been killed elsewhere before getting stuffed.

With a sigh, she left the room.

Now, she needed to figure out her next move. The Watcher probably had some idea of the vampire activity in the area, but that would mean at least pretending to go back under their control. Buffy brushed her fingers over the plastic candy dispenser in her purse. As tempting is it was to skip out of class, she wanted her mom disappointed with her even less, and she was already pushing the "Got lost" excuse she'd planned for being late.


End file.
